Bobbi Brown has started not one but two revolutionary cosmetics companies and written nine bestselling books on beauty, but she's not a fan of traditional makeup.
“I don't like makeup that looks like makeup. When you put on makeup, I just want you to look better. I want you to not look tired. I want you to look beautiful. I want you to have a glow on your face,” the 67-year-old legend told the Post.
Her current company, Jones Road Beauty, is a leader in the growing clean beauty market. Brown's philosophy means it has never introduced certain products, such as those used for contouring.
“People want contour and I refuse it,” she said of the makeup trend popularized by celebrities such as the Kardashians, which involves heavy use of light and dark foundation to alter the shape of the face. “I didn't want to teach or promote contour because I don't believe in it.”
After calling Manhattan home for decades, Brown now lives just outside the city in Montclair, New Jersey, but she's a consummate New Yorker who's always keeping busy.
In addition to running Jones Road, she also recently launched her own Substack newsletter, and she and her husband, developer Steven Plofker, design and operate a local boutique hotel, The George.
She doesn't have time for an elaborate beauty routine and she believes many of her Jones Road customers don't have time either. Thus, many of the products are multipurpose, blurring the line between skincare and makeup.
“It’s a very New York approach to beauty, but it appeals broadly to all women,” Brown said.
His story is a classic tale of how someone can rise to heights in the Big Apple through ambition and talent.
She moved from Chicago to NYC at age 20, bought a phone book and started calling modeling agencies, asking them to hire her to do makeup. It worked and soon she was booking regularly
Jobs.
“If you move to New York, you become successful,” Brown said.
Eventually, she grew tired of working with the bright, gaudy makeup of the 1980s. In 1991, she launched her own line, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, which aimed to enhance women's looks rather than change them.
“I think faces are beautiful the way they are and you make them better and you don't try to change things,” she explained. “If you're always looking in the mirror and always thinking about what you could change, I don't think it has a positive effect on confidence and I believe in self-esteem and confidence.”
In 1995, Estée Lauder purchased Bobbi Brown Cosmetics for a reported $74.5 million. Brown remained as chief creative officer, leading the brand to over $1 billion in sales.
After working for more than two decades as an Estée Lauder employee, Brown left her eponymous brand in 2016 and returned to her roots as a makeup artist and entrepreneur.
Four years later, the day after her non-compete with Lauder expired and in the middle of the pandemic, Brown launched some clean beauty products under the name Jones Road Beauty.
He and Plofker have invested $2 million of their own money in the company, so they have no bosses and no outside investors to answer to.
“When I started [my] opening line, I had this [natural beauty] “I can't say I believe in the philosophy, but you change and adapt and you do things because the market wants them or someone thinks you should do them,” she said. “I wouldn't do that again.”
Jones Road now has 115 employees, operates six stores — including ones in Williamsburg, Greenwich Village and East Hampton — and expects to generate $140 million in revenue this year. LinkedIn ranks it among the top 50 startups.
On Black Friday in 2023, Jones Road's viral Miracle Balm — a subtle wash of moisturizing color that can be applied to cheeks, lips, and “anywhere you want color or shine” — sold over 375,000 units on Shopify, making it the platform's best-selling product.
Jones Road is headed for a seven-figure valuation, but Brown has no plans to sell this time around.
“I'm in charge,” he said.
Though she didn't cut a sweat at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics — Leonard Lauder wisely told her to “always ask for forgiveness… never ask for permission” — she now has total freedom to do as she pleases.
This means simple packaging — using brown paper bags instead of fancy boxes — and irreverent names for their products, such as What The Foundation (WTF).
Brown is keenly aware of the details, big and small.
Twenty minutes into our conversation on Jones Road in Williamsburg, he stopped mid-sentence and pointed out a white mark that looked like a light scratch on the store’s glossy poster.
“I focused on this as soon as I came in… and now I'm going to focus on this until [they] “Bring another photo. And I think the poster could be bigger… there's room on the wall,” she said.
Attention to detail is vital to success. “The details are what make the difference,” she says.
“Anybody who's in business knows … other people don't see what we see. It's tough.”
Jones Road is small enough that she does a lot of the tasks herself, rather than delegate them to a team of workers.
She selects the models for the shoot, does their makeup, selects the photos, and even edits them.
“I stay involved in things that I care about and that I'm good at,” she said. “I stay involved in things that I want to be involved in, and that's most things.”
But for all her success, Brown remains modest and unassuming, and brushes off praise like she would apply face powder.
“I didn't invent makeup,” she joked. “I just reinvented it, didn't I?”
this is part of the story NYNext, a new editorial series It highlights New York City's innovations as well as leading personalities across a variety of industries.
